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Kitarō
Kitarō (鬼太郎, Kitarō), also known as GeGeGe no Kitarō (ゲゲゲの鬼太郎) is a youkai boy born in a cemetery after the death of his parents. Aside from his mostly-decayed father, Medama-Oyaji, he is the last living member of the Ghost Tribe (幽霊族 yūrei zoku). He fights for peace between humans and youkai, which generally involves protecting the former from the wiles of the latter. His name comes from a pre-war era picture story show entitled Hakaba Kitarō (墓場奇太郎, Graveyard Kitarō), featuring a character with a similar backstory. Shigeru Mizuki gives credit to author Masami Itou for inspiring the character of Kitarō. His birth year is 1954, but birth day is unknown (he claims it to be February 30th in the 1968 anime). His father is Medama-Oyaji, his mother is Iwako and his sister is Yuki-hime. Appearance Kitarō looks like a young boy. He has long brown hair which covers his left eye, and he wears a black and yellow striped vest (see Chanchanko) over an old-fashioned school uniform. He also wears Japanese style wooden sandals, called geta. His hair is light gray in the original manga, but from the 2nd anime on it is brown. He is missing his left eye. The origin behind this varies depending on the story. In Hakaba Kitarō, it is explained that when he emerged from the graveyard, a terrified Mizuki threw him away and ran, and the infant Kitarō hit his eye against the edge of a grave stone. more to come Personality In the rental manga, he is portrayed as a kind hearted boy who can't ignore the plights of people or youkai. He even forgives Shuichi Yamada for transforming him into the Dai Kaijuu. However, in the story Umibouzu-sensei he claims he cannot be swayed by justice and love (although this was said in retaliation to Nezumi-Otoko's pleading). He is usually depicted as having adult-like composure, but he actually has a fairly strong sense of justice and can be very excitable at times. He dislikes anyone who commits or aides in bad deeds, and has even punished humans on occasion. However, in the earlier chapters his compassion was very weak, and is depicted leading a creepy life tricking humans into misfortune. He also has a soft spot for both human and youkai girls, and sometimes gets tricked by them. This aspect of his personality was also depicted in the 3rd and 5th anime as well as the live action movies. Over the course of the anime series, his personality has changed slightly. History Kitarō's mother, Iwako died while she was still pregnant with him, and she and his father were buried by the blood banker Mizuki. But three days later, Kitarō crawls out of her womb and the grave by his own power. His birth story is usually not depicted in the anime series, with the exceptions of the 3rd (Ep. 114), 4th (Ep. 78), and Hakaba Kitarō anime (Ep. 1). After his birth he is taken in by Mizuki, but Kitarō treats him coldly and runs away at age 6, leaving on an aimless journey with his reanimated father (see Medama-Oyaji), eventually settling with a peaceful life in GeGeGe Forest. As a child, he attended Youkai Elementary with Neko-Musume. According to Nezumi-Otoko, Kitarō attended the Youkai Study Hall with him. In the live-action movies he is said to have attended a semester at Under the Grave Middle School. Day to Day Life He usually lives together with Medama-Oyaji in a tree house commonly referred to as the GeGeGe House, although in the manga chapter Shinigami he lives in Sunakake-Babaa's Youkai Apartments. Because he owns various Human World goods it seems he has money, but this is never made clear. He essentially lives a poor life, and in the original manga he is seen rummaging through garbage cans. In the serialized mangas and the animes, he doesn't usually receive a reward whenever he solves incidents, at most he will receive free food and bedding whenever he stays with someone. Some clients will offer him a large monetary reward, but he usually recommends they put that money towards hospital bills or, if such is the case, offerings to the youkai they disturbed. more to come Abilities Kitarō has an assortment of strange powers at his disposal, including: Hair *'Youkai Antenna': A hair which can serve as an antenna for detecting spirit activity *'Hair Needles': Spiny hairs which can be shot like arrows *'Hair Spear' *'Hair Sword': Longer locks of his hair can be used as a spear or sword *'Hair Net/Hair Rope' *'Hair Radio' *'Remote Controlled Hair' *'Nose Hair Missle' Electric Powers The power of electrocution, usually employed when an enemy has pinned or restrained him and he can no longer kick or use other weapons Regenerative Powers *'Remote Controlled Hand': A detachable hand, also remote-controlled *'Kitarō Pierce' *'Finger Guns' *'Teeth Machinegun' Digestive Fluids *'Gastric Juice' *'Balloon' Other abilities *'Fire Burst' *'Chameleon Technique' *'Chameleon Tongue' *'Shedding' *'Binding Apparatus' *'Gas' *'Youkai Radiation' *'Ear Phone' Weapons Main weaopns *'Chanchanko': A magic chanchanko vest which can protect its wearer from danger; it occasionally seems to act of its own accord, wrapping around enemies or aiding friends, even when Kitarō is not available to command it. *'Remote Controlled Geta': Remote-controlled geta sandals. *'Youkai Ocarina': A magical ocarina (usually used for calling Ittan Momen), which contains a baton, a whip and occasionally music which has the power to damage certain ghosts. *'Reikai Ticket' *'Jigoku Key' Other weapons and tools *'Youkai Glasses' *'Kitarō Flute' *'Youkai Glove' *'Ghost Armor' *'Youkai Mentamu' *'Father's Bones' Image Songs *Kitarō Ondo by Keiko Toda (1985 anime) *Moero! Kitarō by Keiko Toda (1985 anime) *Itazura by Minami Takayama (2007 anime) Cast *Anime **Masako Nozawa (1st・2nd, Manga Video, Kitarō ga Mita Gyokusai, Hakaba) **Keiko Toda (3rd) **Youko Matsuoka (4th) **Minami Takayama (5th) *TV Drama **Makoto Mutsu'ura (Monday Dramaland) **Motoyoshi Wada (Demon Flute) *Video Games **Rika Matsumoto (GeGeGe no Kitarō: Ibun Youkai Kitan) *Live Action Films **Eiji Wentz *OVA **Mika Kanai (Shigeru Mizuki's Youkai Gadan) Gallery Kitarō/Gallery Trivia *Gegege no Kitarō is the mascot for the Gainare Tottori soccer club. Additionally, J.League Division 1 team F.C. Tokyo also holds "Gegege no Kitarō Day" every season. *In Episode 6 of the Japanese drama Hana-Kimi, the protagonist Ashiya Mizuki (Horikita Maki) is quoted as saying that Izumi Sano (Oguri Shun) looks like "Kitarō", due to the way Sano's hair is styled. Sano then said that Mizuki must be "Medama Oyaji", since Mizuki always has 'his' eye on Sano. Also, in Episode 7, Noe greets the assembled couples on their way to the roof of the school on the evening of the delayed star festival (August 7) dressed as Kitarō and holding a figure of Medama Oyaji bathing in a rice bowl. *The exclamation "GeGeGe no Ge!" is used by ShogunGekomon in Episode 15 of Digimon Adventure 02. *In the last chapter of the manga, Ikujinashi Shiawase (Happiness of a Cowardly Boy) by Naono Bohra, character Kawada is embarrassed to look at the face of his lover, Mori, after Mori gets a haircut. Kawada complains that with his new haircut, Mori's handsome face is "too exposed" and attracts too much attention from other people. He states that Kawada used to have hair like "GeGeGe Kitarō", and he preferred it that way since his face was half-hidden most of the time. *Japanese musician Miyavi has also described his hairstyle as a Kitarōu-cut many times (i.e.: official profile, diary, etc...). *Shigeru Mizuki has issued a series of limited-edition woodblock prints entitled "Fifty-Three Stations of the Yokaido Road", re-interpreting the famous Hiroshige series "Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido Road" as "a haunted journey". Printed from Mizuki's original paintings, the "Yokaido Road" prints star Kitarō and his troupe, as well as many other yokai and weird creatures of folklore. Produced through the Japanese publisher Yanoman Corporation, in March 2008 the series went on display in the Information and Culture Center of the Japanese Embassy in Washington DC. *In the Kamen Rider Den-O OVA spin off, Imagin Anime, Ryutaros refers to the show. When the other Tarōs attempt to sing the first part of the series' main theme, Deneb stopped them from getting sued from the mere mention of it by name. *In The Great Yokai War, after Tadashi first realizes Sunekosuri is a Youkai, goes out to look at the yokai models, statues of Kitarō and Konaki-Jijii are shown. Later, after a Youkai meeting ends up with their supposed help deciding to aid them, Kawataro the Kappa and Ittan-momen to a pillar while chiding "You're always real brave with Kitarō in those comics!" Kitarō's creator Shigeru Mizuki also appears in a cameo role in the film near the end. *Main Mushishi character Ginko bears uncanny similarities to Kitarō. Both have similar hairstyles, pale complexions and a missing left eye (this occurs to Ginko in Episode two). The only differences occurring are eye color and hair color. It should also be noted that both series deal with supernatural occurrences. *The Shaman King character Manta also bears a resemblance to Kitarō. *In a manga called Miyuki, the character Inoue who appears in chapter 55. bears a striking resemblance to Kitaro in both appearance and personality. Category:Characters Category:Male characters Category:Yōkai Category:Human-like Yōkai Category:Mizuki Original Yōkai Category:Ghost Tribe Category:Kitarō Family